Saturday’s $1m Group One Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham will be the 11th and final leg of an NZB Filly of the Year Series that has been completely dominated by Leica Lucy (NZ) (Derryn).
The Oaks would be Leica Lucy’s fifth win of the series and lift her to 40 points. Only two fillies in the last two decades have bettered that – Jennifer Eccles (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle) with 44.5 points in 2019-20, and Justa Tad (NZ) (Istidaad) with 42 in 2004-05. In the last four seasons, the winning scores have been 28, 25, 31 and 34 points.
Leica Lucy is trained by Robbie Patterson for her owner-breeders Heather and Peter Crofskey, who share ownership with Australian investor Ozzie Kheir. First and second in her first two starts in the spring, Leica Lucy has since been unbeaten in four increasingly impressive appearances in the NZB Filly of the Year Series – the Group Three Eulogy Stakes (1600m), Group Three Desert Gold Stakes (1600m), Group Two David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2000m) and Group Two Lowland Stakes (2100m).
The daughter of Grangewilliam Stud stallion Derryn has towered over her contemporaries over the last four months, and that is widely expected to continue on Saturday with the TAB rating her a $1.45 favourite for the Oaks.
But there are 14 other fillies lining up for their shot at Group One glory in the Oaks, which has doubled its stake from $500,000 to $1m this year.
Island Life (NZ) (Vadamos) goes into the race as a last-start winner of the Group Three Sunline Vase (2100m) at Ellerslie, which lifted her total to 8 points in the NZB Filly of the Year Series.
Connello (NZ) (Time Test) and Myakkabelle (NZ) (War Decree) have both been multiple placegetters through the series, each of them earning 6 points along the way.
This Time Girl (NZ) (Contributer), Eye Candy (NZ) (Darci Brahma) and Dubai Gold (NZ) (Pride Of Dubai) are all last-start stakes placegetters. This Time Girl and Eye Candy finished second and third in the Sunline Vase, earning 3 points and 1.5 points respectively, while Dubai Gold picked up 2 points from a strong-finishing third in the Lowland Stakes.
Skymax (NZ) (Fernando), Thrilling (NZ) (Shocking), Alaskan (NZ) (Niagara), Mid Ocean (NZ) (Ocean Park), Piccolino (NZ) (Proisir), Wyndsong (NZ) (Wyndspelle), Lady Diva (NZ) (Eminent), and Girl Talk (NZ) (Zed), make up the rest of the quality field, all with strong contentions of taking the spoils on the day.
The Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks will be run as Race 8 at Trentham on Saturday, with a scheduled start time of 4.36pm.
